The process of studying is aimed at elaborating, learning, and mastering information, which can be later applied in real life. However, the modern methods of studying suggest that the main purpose of students is not the gaining of real knowledge, but the acquisition of good marks. This is not necessarily done by learning. Moreover, in most cases many students eventually indulge in academic cheating. In fact, the statistics shows that only 5% of students prefer writing their own original works, while the other 97% more or less often plagiarize other works. Such instances indisputably need to be controlled by academia or by the government.
 
Academic Cheating as a Fundamental Part of Study
 
However ironic it sounds, experience shows that academic cheating is almost unavoidable in the process of writing new works. Indeed, the issue of academic cheating has been studied for more than ten years, and the results are overwhelming. As an example, the Duke University Department of Academic Integrity studied more than 50 000 students during last 5 years; and other establishments in the USA also contributed to the study. The statistical data, which varied from source to source, showed that:

• 70%-75% of students admitted to have plagiarized different works in their academic writings
• 50%-65% of students confessed to academic cheating in their work
• 30%-35% of students were proven to be guilty of academic cheating
• 5% - 10% of students claimed to have written original works during the whole study process
• 40%-45% of teachers never reported to the authority the cases of academic cheating

The striking numbers show, that academic cheating in writing is practiced all over the world. Some students use someone else’s work due to the lack of imagination; however, most of students do not even try to write on their own. What is more, some cases of academic cheating are left undetected, and the students who are caught cheating are sometimes not even punished. Even more ridiculously, cases of academic cheating have been found not only at schools and colleges, but also in PhD papers. This points to the degrading level of the intellectual potential of modern students.
 
Academic cheating: Plagiarism laws in USA
 
Taking into consideration the growing numbers of academic cheating cases in different universities in the USA, there is an evident need for governmental control of plagiarism. However, the progress of plagiarism has a much greater pace than the progress of development of laws connected to this issue. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the legal norms of copyright and cases of its infringement. In other words, punishment needs to go beyond academia, and have real consequences.
 
The first step to eliminating the possibility of academic cheating is defining the clear features of plagiarism. Thus, the basic plagiarism laws in USA suggest that such issues can be referred to as academic cheating:

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Modern life demands a well-developed creative sense and good imagination. Moreover, the same requirements hold for activities connected to business. However, while some individuals have no problems with creativity, most people have an analytical approach to work. Therefore, they can find it difficult to use their imaginations for different projects. The only option left in this case is using someone else’s work instead of making up their own. In most cases this process involves online plagiarism.
 
Online Plagiarism in Business
 
While everyone is familiar with online plagiarism at school, only some of us know about the cases of plagiarism in business. In fact, the modern campaigns, show business, and manufacturing also have a lot to do with online plagiarism. For instance, recent studies have shown that the cases of online plagiarism in business include:

1. Use of pictures:
   • On clothing
   • In advertisements
   • On posters
   • In public places
2. Use of audio materials:
   • In public places
   • In video materials
   • In other audio materials
3. Use of video materials:
   • On television
   • In public places
   • On the Internet

It is needless to say, that 80% of the mentioned uses of materials are in opposition to copyright norms. What is more, 30% of the cases, such as illegal manufacturing of T-shirts with a photo of Jennifer Lopez, are never reported or punished. This fact serves as another proof of online plagiarism as an effective tool of modern business.
 
Online Plagiarism in Copywriting, that is Creating Web Content
 
One of the modern applications of online plagiarism is in the creation of website content. Some advertisement campaigns use quotes and ideas without mentioning the name of the author, or giving any other references. In this case, the matter of plagiarism is extremely hard to define, especially if the material used is not famous or very familiar to the public. Therefore, it is not surprising, that during the last 3 years more than two hundred cases of online plagiarism were detected in the written copy. What is more, some copy materials proved to be just a paraphrasing of some other texts, with the same meaning, but in a completely different form.
 
Example: The instructions for using some gadget is described in its advertising campaign, but most of the nouns and adjectives are substituted with synonyms. In this case, there is only one original text of the instructions, which can be rewritten in a hundred of different ways. Each of these ways will serve as a new advertisement. The source match in this case is minimal, which reduces the possibility of detecting the case of online plagiarism. However, the advertisement is still formed unethically and may cross the line into illegality.
 
There are thousands of such cases, and, most frustrating, the customers fail to detect them. For instance, the statistics argue that:

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Why ask “is it plagiarism”? For students, employees, researchers, bloggers, or instructors, answering the question “is it plagiarism” is critical. Ease of plagiarism and ready availability of web sources create an attractive nuisance. Detection tools grow, as does adverse publicity. Penalties include diploma delay or denial, public humiliation and professional discreditation. Here are some tips.
 
How do we answer the question “is it plagiarism“?
 
The clearest way to use another’s words correctly is quotation. However, there are many good reasons not to simply string together one quote after another. Paraphrase and summarization are key skills for any scholar, and avoid that nagging question: is it plagiarism?
 
When seeking guidance, seek websites which offer examples. You may be surprised at how drastically one must paraphrase to respond to the troubling question “is it plagiarism” in the negative.
 
Useful websites offering guidance on paraphrasing
 
A very useful webpage is the Purdue University Owl at http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/619/01/ .Their commonsense approach to the shifting target which constitutes paraphrasing is intuitively sensible:

• Is it plagiarism if it uses your own synonyms? Maybe not, but it still needs attribution…
• Is it plagiarism if it condenses a broader segment of the source? Maybe not, but it still needs attribution…
• Is it plagiarism if it is shorter than the original? Maybe not, but it still needs attribution…
• Is it plagiarism if you paraphrased with attribution? Usually not, but see above regarding the quality of paraphrase…
• Is it plagiarism if you quoted with attribution? Usually not, but too much constitutes poor writing and scholarship.

Another webpage, from Mcgraw-Hill, gives some tough, real world examples, using the Federalist Papers (http://highered. mcgraw-hill. com/sites/0072873469/student_view0/avoiding_plagiarism_tutorial/summarize_paraphrase/examples_of_paraphrases. html)
 
This raises some more questions:

1. Is it plagiarism if the other’s idea is not attributed, in-text, or by footnote? Yes!
2. Is it plagiarism if sentences show the same structure? Could be…better rephrase or quote, with attribution.
3. Is it plagiarism if the word order is similar? Could well be…best to rephrase or quote outright and cite correctly.
4. Is it plagiarism if the style of citation is incorrect for the applicable style manual? Yes!
5. Is it plagiarism if page numbers have been omitted? Yes!
6. Is it plagiarism if the source does not appear in the reference list?

The Purdue OWL guide, (http://owl. english. purdue. edu/owl/resource/619/01/)
offers the following useful suggestions for paraphrasing:

• Reread for comprehension
• Paraphrase without looking
• Annotate for intended use and subject
• Revisit passage for completeness
• Note in quotes unique words or phrases
• Record bibliographic info

Complexities of scientific attribution
 

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Perhaps, almost everyone heard about plagiarism detection software used by college professors to check papers of their students for plagiarism. This makes someone tremble, some people do not pay attention to them, and some use them for their own profit.
 
The latter way is the most correct one. Even if you wrote your paper independently, you should know how to check a paper for plagiarism. Everyone can unintentionally plagiarize (and this really happens very often), so you need to be sure that your paper is unique, non-plagiarized.
 
Thus, let us consider the most common ways of how to check a paper for plagiarism.
 
How to check a paper for plagiarism: free online services.
 
Most of online services that check papers for plagiarism are free. So, this is the simplest way to check a paper for plagiarism before submitting it. Plagiarism detectors will highlight all phrases in your text that match those found online. So, you can easily get rid or paraphrase all those parts to avoid accusations of plagiarism.
 
How to check a paper for plagiarism: paid services
 
Naturally, there are also specialized plagiarism detection services for which you have to pay. They check your paper not only against the online database, but also against their own database of books and journals. Such services are mostly used by colleges.
 
How to check a paper for plagiarism: search engines
 

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There are several ways to get information on the world of custom writing services. If you have never used them before, additional data will be absolutely necessary and truly helpful. Actually, knowing background material about writing services is helpful not only for novice students, but for those using writing help from time to time.

1. Talk to your friends. A good idea is to ask those already using writing services. They will give you some ideas on where to look for non-plagiarized custom written papers. If you do not feel comfortable asking your friends about it, talk to people at academic forums. This will give you even more information on where to look for non-plagiarized papers.
2. Quality custom written papers can be found on those web sites that have proved their reputation and are known for being reliable. These are the oldest and the most popular ones. Just be careful. Being old and popular does not always mean being 100 per cent perfect.
3. Read the reviews of writing services. There are web sites where students usually discuss the companies they ordered custom written papers from. This source is one of the best ways to get some background information. Certainly, not all of the statements there can be unbiased and true. However, if you orient on the majority and can draw personal conclusions, it will be enough to take the right decision and choose the right company.
4. If you tend to trust only yourself, choose such writing services that seem reliable to you, and analyze their web sites. Pay attention to the prices. No one will prepare non-plagiarized papers at ridiculously low prices. No one will write a quality essay in two hours. A reliable service will offer you guarantees of the authenticity of your paper.